Archive for February, 2013

Here’s a prototype I’ve been working on using MonoTouch and EmguCV

EmguCV is a a cross platform .Net wrapper to the OpenCV image processing library. Obviously this lends itself to the world of Mono and Android / iOS – brilliant!

Although you can download and test this wrapper in MonoDevelop via the iOS simulator, some of the library I was interested in needed the ‘device’ build. And for that you need to buy a licence.

I eagerly paid the money and started a’codin.

The main requirement of the app was to use facial/eye/nose recognition and place a scaled pair of glasses on your face. FYI there are many apps in the App Store that do this using a variety of techniques, but I don’t like many of them and most don’t lend themselves to being used by commercial eyewear companies. I guess what I am saying is that there needs to be a trade off between what looks absolutely awesome (3D augmented reality) and what is practical when it comes to constantly changing product lines. Economics trumps technology.

My approach is just to place a 2D image over your eyes. Lets face it (pun intended), once you get an idea of what the frames will look like on, you’ll want to try them ‘in store’ to get the real 3D experience. I really think this idea suites the new online eyewear paradigm of ordering glasses to try at home first before buying, all for the cost of delivery. Using an app to find & then order the ones you think look virtually good first, makes sense to me. An example of a company using ‘home try on’ in Australia is Sneaking Duck, while in the U.S another I’ve seen is Warby Parker.

My prototype is using a combination of sensing techniques to help achieve the results above.

Accelerometer to sense camera stability

Image motion detection to sense picture stability

Gamma correction to enhance image

Haar Cascade algorithms for face/eyes/nose detection

I had lots of fun making this prototype. I am looking to collaborate, so let me know if you are an eyewear company and want to use this in some way. Cheers!